What is it time to let go of?

What is it time to let go of?

This question has come up so often in conversation and proven so useful and generative for people dealing with multiple projects and complicated issues in recent months that we thought it’s time to share it.

We are always changing, shaped by our experiences, circumstances and inevitable progress through careers and life. As indeed are the people around us. And our organisations constantly evolve. And the world around us – social, environmental, technological and economic – is itself constantly changing.

So the way we have done things, or thought about things, may no longer be the most appropriate. Similarly, the way your team or organisation thinks and behaves may have served brilliantly in its time, but may no longer be most appropriate now.

As the poet David Whyte put it when we heard him speak – ‘Most people are 3-5 years behind their reality’.

On top of this, our culture is based upon acquisition, inviting us to constantly gather and pick things up without putting other things down. Overload is almost inevitable.

So if things are not going as smoothly, easily, happily, healthily or effectively as you would wish perhaps the question will serve you too: What is it time for you (or your team?) to let go of?

Perhaps it’s a habit, an assumption or a belief, a relationship, a favoured perspective, some possessions, even a false hope or dream, perhaps a self-criticism, grudge, regret or fear.

You can personally try it out first in the safety of being the bar-room philosopher. Have a look in the news. Choose a story that touches you. And ask the question, for someone in the story or for the entire situation (or indeed your response to the story), ‘What is it time to let go of?’

Enlightening? When ready, have a go yourself if you wish. Whatever it is that’s on your (or your team’s) mind, ‘What is it time to let go of?’